
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´The River´
´´This is a song about....you get in the middle of the summer like
this, there´d be nights when, I remember, I´d take my bicycle and
I´d go out real late when I was a kid....and I´d just ride around
all the empty streets....and you´d get this feeling like, you´d
be feeling like you´d never wanna go home....´cause everybody´s
gotta have some place to go when they don´t wanna go home.....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Glory Days´
´´Getting loose now....now this is a song....about many things....one
of the things it´s about....is getting older....now is there anybody out
there old as me tonight ? (cheers) see, I´m old but I´m bold....is
there anybody out there old as the Big Man ? (less cheers) not that many (chuckles)
but he still looks so fine....now, this is about when you go into a bar and
you see somebody who you haven´t seen in a long time....and all they wanna
do is talk about what a great time you had in high school....that´s what
they always say ´Bruce, man, did we have a great time in high school !...boy,
that was fun !´....now, personally I hated high school....I can´t
stand high school....everytime fall comes around, I´m glad I don´t
have to go to high school....I had a terrible time back there.....I wasn´t
good at sports, I wasn't good at my studies, I wasn't good at....I´ve
got a little bit better at that since then, that's right....anyway...I had a
bad time then but I´m making up for it right now...."
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Used Cars´
´´It´s a little wet up here (chuckles)....oh, thanks, thanks....this
is uh....I had a bedroom, I used to live on this street called South Street
in Freehold....and uh, I had a bedroom that was out over the backyard and I
remember that....my dad had a rule, he never, he never rode anything that cost
more than a 100 dollars (chuckles)....and....every morning I´d hear him,
first thing I´d hear in the crack of dawn is I´d hear him out there
opening the hood, trying to get one of those old, old cars going so he could
get to work....so....this is uh, he´s here tonight and he´s gonna
go home tomorrow so I´m gonna do this song for him....I´ll tell
him that he did a good job (chuckles) thanks....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´My Hometown´
´´Thanks....this is uh....this is a song that´s....I remember
I was 16, I used to take the Lincoln Transit up to Port Authority...just to
get out of my hometown on the weekends, you know....and I remember when I was
a kid, I guess most people as they get older, they, they, uh, go through some
sort of love-hate-relationship with the place they, the town they grew up in....I
remember when I was 16, it was mostly hate (chuckles) I wanted to change everything,
I wanted to, I wanted to take off, change everything about myself, I was gonna
change my name, I always wondered, I always used to bother my mother and ask
her why she called me ´Bruce´ (chuckles)(crowd calls ´Bruce´)
that´s why, right (chuckles) sounds good (chuckles)....I got used to it....you
get used to a lot of things (chuckles)...”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, end of ´Dancing in the Dark´
´´(after dancing with his mother) That´s my mama !....she
had the moves....that´s where I got all my stuff....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´No Surrender´
´´Thank you....I always....sometimes I´ll be laying in bed
at night and uh....guess I always consider myself real fortunate in that when
I was real young, I found something I really loved to do....and uh, I dreamed
about it a whole lot and I got to do it, you know....you know, this is uh....when
I was 15, I was 15 and a half, I went into this hulabaloo club in Middletown,
New Jersey and uh....they used to have these clubs, there used to be this show
called ´Hulabaloo´, used to have all the English groups on and they
had a chain of clubs that were kind of modelled after the show and I met, uh....(?)
been my best friend for a long time and uh....we kind of....dreamed about lot
of the same things together and, you know, bought all the latest records and
tried to figure out all the guitar parts off the records and uh....so this is
for, this is for Little Steven wherever he is tonight....he´s got a great,
his new album, Voice of America, is a really, really good record, if you get
a chance, you should pick it up....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´
´´Now....this is a song....about the conflict....between worldly
things and spiritual health.... between desires the flesh....and spiritual ecstasy....between
the mansion on the hill and the mansion in the sky, between the cynics and the
sceptics and the true believers, now what I wanna know tonight is how many of
you out there believe that if you should die, and I hope this doesn´t
happen, if you should die during the show due to excitement....that you´re
gonna go to heaven ? (cheers) now, how many of you think that if you should
pass away during the final moments due to cardiac arrest or some other terminal
disease that it´s possible that you´re gonna have to pack your Bermuda
shorts and take the down elevator ? (cheers) now, me.....I know I´m gonna
go to heaven....now, I´m gonna miss the band but I´ll get over it....because
in the beginning....He created the heavens and the earth and He sat back and
said ´This is good´, on the Second Day, He got hot and He created
air-conditioning and He sat back and said ´This is good´, on the
Third Day, He grew hungry and He created cheeseburgers and the Lord sat back
and said ´This is good´, on the Fourth Day, He created rock and
roll and He sat back and He said ´This is good´, on the Fifth Day,
which was Friday night, He decided He needed to go for a drive, He created the
pink Cadillac and the Lord sat back and said ´This is wild´....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Growin´Up´
´´It was night just like tonight....except it was hotter....and
it was a long, long time ago.... I´d just met Clarence....I was working
in the bowling alley setting up the pins....he was working at the massage parlor,
the lawyer´s office....and we were sitting out on the curb downtown on
Main Street....and we realised that we had nothing going....we didn´t
know what to do with ourselves, we had no direction in our lives, our lives
were meaningless, we didn´t have any guidance, we didn´t, we didn´t
know what we were gonna do, we, we needed some faith, we needed some hope, we
needed a date....Clarence decided that tonight that we should´ve gone,
we should go on a, it was a spiritual search, I´d say, wouldn´t
you ?....he said he knew a gypsy woman outside of town....that could help us
out with our problem....so we got into his Oldsmobile and we drove south on
Route 9....way down, way down deep into the pines....we parked on the side of
this dirtroad and about two miles in, we came to the gypsy woman´s shack.....and
she told us that the answer to our search would be ours and all we had to do....was
to walk through that forest....but in that forest there was a monster and we
were gonna have to get by that monster....to get what we wanted so into the
forest we went....(?)....and sure enough there it was, the biggest grizzly bear
we´d ever seen, I don´t know how he got to New Jersey but one of
us was gonna have to take him on (?) and so they started out, they swung at
each other, they did the belly whammer....and then they (?)....and it was a
take-down, wait a minute, one, two, Clarence still had his shoulder up, but,
oh no, he had the Big Man in the dangerous sleeper-hold.....it was then that
I knew that I was gonna have to jump in and help my buddy (Max drums real hard)(?)....the
monster was gone and there....the moon fell from the clouds....and over in the
clearing, we saw the answer to our search.....we stood there in the moonlight
and then....when we touched....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Rosalita´
´´Slowly I turn....ladies and gentlemen....it is now time for the
part of the show where I get to introduce the members of the E Street Band....beginning
with our newest member ....from South Jersey, Jim the Dancing Bear !...don´t
worry, folks, he´s completely docile ....and then, going to my far left....on
the piano, the man of our intelligence, a man whose brain is crammed with more
useless, I mean interesting information than any individual has ever met, a
man who gave up a scholarship to Harvard in unusual sexual practises just to
tour this year with the E Street Band....the only member of the band with a
complete high school diploma, let´s hear it for dedication, education,
´Professor´ Roy Bittan....on the vocals, an alumni of Southside
Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the bass guitar, a man
who brings you the thunder from way down under, Mr.Garry W.Tallent....on the
drums, the one, the only Mighty Max Weinberg ....on the organ, the inimitable,
the inevitable, the immoral, the unconceivable, the unbelievable, the fantastic,
the wonderful, the incredible, the original sinner, ladies and gentlemen, Phantom
Dan Federici.....lookout girls, he hates to be alone....and now, on the guitar,
a man as sweet as life itself, drumroll please....Mr.Nils Lofgren (Nils does
his trampoline stunt)....and now, last but not least....he´s a lean, mean
love machine, ladies and gentlemen....I have no words to describe him so gimme
a C-LA-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´)
what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) what´s that
spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons
on the saxophone....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Jungleland´
´´This is to Errol and the Light Boys from Jerry....”
12.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Born to Run´
´´This is....I´d like to thank everybody for coming down tonight,
thank you very much.... this is uh....when I was....when I was growing up and
I heard the music of Elvis Presley, it kind of set my mind free so that I could
dream a little bit more, you know, and uh....guess in the end his music....and
the best of rock and roll to me always just said ´Let freedom ring for
everybody everywhere´....but remember you gotta fight for it every day....”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi